You are not doing the same things the same way because you are old..... You are old because you are doing the same things the same way.

I love science. More importantly I love the new directions science is taking. There is a fairly new field of study within medical science, known as Neuroplasticity. This field is challenging our old, outmoded ideas that the brain is a static organ and the abilities or intelligence that you are born with, is pretty much what you are stuck with.

Neuroplasticity however, explores the brains ability to create new neural pathways and synapses as a result of changes in behaviour, environment and neural processes etc.

The reason I love this work so much, is because it is now confirming what I have long believed to be true. Not only are we NOT victims of our hereditary... but the reason that we age... or at least one of the reasons (the other being expectation and the collective consciousness)... is because we don't exercise our brains, we don't explore new possibilities... basically we just repeat the same old things, in the same old manner, because that is how we have always done things.

don't just sit and watch your life go by

When we do this repeatedly over the years.... the neural pathways in our brains become like grooves on an old vinyl record, ingrained and entrenched, and we quite literally become a rut. With no new stimulation... our brains age, taking the rest of our bodies with them.
Science is now saying that the human body was designed to live to at least 125 years old. Now when I say that to someone like my own father (82 years old)... he freaks out. He doesn't want to live that long. Because in his mind (and therefore in his experience), he believes that getting older means getting frailer, weaker, unable to enjoy life. But this absolutely does not need to be the case.

New experiences.... or even just doing the same things, but doing them in a different way... forces the brain to create new neural pathways, which in actuality is EXACTLY what keeps us young... or at the very least, prevents us from getting old before our time.

growth is a continual process

So next time you go to do the same old thing the same old way, you have done it a million and one times before... STOP... and think for second... is there another way (maybe even a better way) that I could be doing this... or even better... is there something completely different I could be doing instead.

I love this article Tracie, and am a strong advocate for exactly what you are saying. People are being encouraged to undertake brian training exercises now for exactly this reason. Its the old saying, use it or lose it...but it doesn't only apply to our bodies. :)